this is bbc news — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm laura trevelyan. america's president—elect says wednesday's events in washington are one of the darkest days in us history — and he's blaming donald trump. the past four years, we have had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, the rule of law, clear in everything he has done. four people died during the riots — dozens of people have been arrested — many who took part remain defiant. i feel very privileged that i was a part of yesterday. i fight for freedom and democracy. even with everything that happened 7 yes, even with everything that happened. social media giants twitter and facebook have suspended

donald trump's accounts. top democrats want him thrown out of office. hello and welcome, i'm laura trevelyan. it's been about 2k hours since the seige of the us capitol was brought to an end, but the repurcussions are farfrom over. lawmakers of all political stripes have condemned the violence. top democrats have made it clear they don't want to wait untiljoe biden‘s inauguration for president trump to be removed from power. and in the latest developments, there are reports that a us capitol police officer who was caught up in wednesday's riot has died. we begin our coverage with this report from our north america editor, jon sopel. they can clean, they can repaint and put papers back in filing cabinets, they can easily spruce

the place up, but none of it will remove the stain on american democracy. the trump supporting mob, the trump inspired rioters, in what's being described as an attempted insurrection, have certainly left their mark. who's house?! the mob that descended on the capitol building probably couldn't believe how easy their task was. after security cordons crumbled, the thin blue line turned out to be painfully so. and if you want one image to highlight the inadequacy of the police response, just look at this officer endlessly retreating, one staircase at a time. or in the chamber, plainclothes officers having to resort to barricading the doors, their weapons drawn to stop the rioters from entering. these are scenes that have played out in tinpot regimes around the world, but in america, this beacon of democracy? this protester ashli babbitt was killed, a military veteran who had served her country

in afghanistan and iraq, only to die from a single gunshot wound fired in the hall of the house of representatives. business resumed last night. joe biden certified as the next president. the current vice president condemning the mob in a way that donald trump couldn't bring himself to. to those who wreaked havoc in our capital today, you did not win. violence never wins. freedom wins. and this is still the people's house. and today, the president—elect made clear who he held responsible for last night's events. the past four years, we've had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, the rule of law, clear in everything he has done. and yesterday was but the culmination of that unrelenting attack. but why was security so lax?

it's not as though anyone was caught unaware. this overwhelmingly white crowd was treated with kid gloves. police seemingly posing for selfies with the protesters. but this is what washington looked like last summer, when black lives matter protesters came to the capitol after the death of george floyd. the difference couldn't be more striking. and then there's the role of the president himself in inciting this coup attempt. we are going to walk down to the capitol... they cheer. that seemed to appal those who have stood by the president. rumours swirled that his fellow cabinet members might try to invoke the 25th amendment and forcibly remove him from office. maybe in response to that threat, donald trump finally — through an aide — issued this statement in the middle of the night.

donald trump couldn't tweet it out because his account had been suspended and today, facebook announced it was indefinitely blocking his account, a hugely significant move. and the democratic speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, whose office was yesterday occupied by this protester, is upping the pressure. ijoined the senate democrat leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. if the vice president cannot act the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. four years ago at his inauguration on the steps of the capitol, donald trump promised the american carnage, as he called it, would end right here, right now. but last night this is what his legacy looked like. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. the apparent ease with which trump supporters were able to storm congress has raised serious questions

about security in washington. the head of capitol police is resigning. our correspondent aleem manool has been speaking to some of those caught up in the chaos of last night. no remorse, no guilt, no regrets. those who travelled to washington from across the country to protest are today sightseeing. yesterday had to happen. the shock and disgust is felt elsewhere — not here. how do you feel about it all? i feel very privileged that i was a part of yesterday. ifight forfreedom and democracy. even with everything that happened ? yes. even with everything that happened. we had the greatest president in our lifetime doing everything he could do, sacrificing his golden years to make this country what it should be and what it always has been. he sacrificed so much, and that is why you seen so many people here, they realise that. in those fateful hours they had been incited to march on the capitol by donald trump. those who forced their way into the building believing

they had the right to, to overturn the election result. that is just not how things are done in this country. lawlessness, storming buildings even, that is what has happened. the nation was not founded on civility, this nation was founded on revolutionary activity. we became civil after the government realised that they got overwhelmed. so, what happens now? i guess now we wait and see if they take us seriously, because they saw how easily we were able to breach their defence. in spite of everything we saw with our own eyes, a lot of those protesters who laid siege to the us capitol insist that it is the other side that is trying to seize power and subvert democracy. among them there's very little sense of embarrassment at the events here — if anything, a sense of pride. proud especially that they caused politicians to cower in congress. i've never had a panic attack, but i think that's what i was having. my heart was pounding very, very hard. i was having a little bit

of trouble catching my breath, and i felt almost paralysed. david hartfield junior works at the capitol building and lives close by. it was scary, and when i got up this morning i was like, "maybe i should just inside all day." i really had that thought of, you know, am i going to be attacked forjust going in and paying bills? like, that's a scary thought to wake up with in the morning. life, of course, goes on, but many americans have been left numb by events here. others, though, those involved, have clearly been energised. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. there's been no comment from president trump today. he's been barred from many of his social media outlets, and did not appear before any cameras. but the white house press secretary kayleigh mcena ny addressed reporters. the violence we saw yesterday at our nation's capital was appalling, reprehensible and antithetical to the american way.

we condemn it, the president and this administration, in the strongest possible terms. it is unacceptable and those that broke the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. let's try to put the events of the past day or so in a bit of context. for that i'm joined now by author and political columnist ej dionne. thank you so much for being with us. if we could just start with us. if we could just start with this question of how the president will be held accountable for egging on the protesters, it seems that the vice president, mike pence, doesn't want to go down the 25th amendment route of forcing him from office. top democrats in congress say they want to impeach him, butjoe biden is being reported tonight as not keen on impeachment. so what do you see happening here? well, i think there is a lot of pressure, particularly among democrats in congress to impeach him, partly so we don't

have any event like this between now and january 20 on inauguration day, partly so he doesn't issue a slew of pardons and the power of the president to pardon is pretty unlimited. partly to bar him from public life in the future from running for office. you can't bar him from talking, but you can are him from seeking public office. soi him from seeking public office. so i think the pressure will be substantial, but you are right thatjoe biden has been very relu cta nt to thatjoe biden has been very reluctant to make this period about donald trump. he wants to them for size piece. people getting along. the change in the country. he doesn't want to donald trump to be the central issue, and of course, impeachment would make trump the central issue. if biden really doesn't want this to happen, i very much doubt that speaker pelosi or the democratic leader of the senate would go ahead with an impeachment. i think the talk isa impeachment. i think the talk is a signal to trump saying,

don't try something like this again because we are ready to do something. now, when we look at those images of the us capitol being stormed by these protesters wrapped in trump flags, what does it say about the state of trump is on itself? well, it's very. on the one hand, this is a tragic awful event for american democracy and the pictures that went around the world of our capital yesterday were appalling. i think, capital yesterday were appalling. ithink, however, you could also view this as if not the last gasp of trump is on, the beginning of collapse of trump is on. because this coincides with the runoff election that was held in georgia. the republicans lost control of the us senate by losing two races down in georgia. so, the end of the

trump era leads to a government, the elected part of a government that is under com plete a government that is under complete control of the democrats. and i think these riots in this civil unrest has so riots in this civil unrest has so tarnished the image of trump is him, that a lot of republicans who were unwilling to walk away before our today condemning this and walking away from trump, a sure sign of how this is split even, the trump part of the party. there we re trump part of the party. there were 13 republican senators who said they would vote against confirming the joe biden electors from the contested states that trump was contesting with no grounds. 0nly contesting with no grounds. only seven of them ended up voting against them. and i think itjust shows the wedge this is driving in the republican party. so, it could be the end of trump is on, i think. the president has released a video tonight, the

theme of it is healing. he calls such a heinous attack, but is the damage done? to see any prospect of him being the republican candidate in 2024 after a ll republican candidate in 2024 after all of this? you know, i think a month ago, it was not inconceivable that he could be the nominee again because within the republican party, he, up to this moment, remain very popular. i think this discredits him in a very, very serious way, and almost his entire response to this, including going underground today and letting a white house spokesman speak, i think this has weakened him to the point that i can't now imagine the republicans nominating him in 2024. and i really wouldn't have said that even 48 hours ago. how much changes in 48 hours. thank you so much for joining us with that analysis. thank you so much. good to be with you.

for more on the protesters who stormed the us capitol, and what formed their views, let's speak to daily beast reporter will sommer. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much forjoining us. so, you were there yesterday on capitol hill. i was as well. i was very struck by the presence of q and on conspiracy theory devotees amongst those there. —— conspiracy theory devotees amongst those there. -- qanon. what part does that play that the election was stolen. absolute. so qanon, we're talking about the conspiracy theory here, and do these are people who believe, ultimately, democrats are essentially satanic figures and donald trump is going to have a big moment called the storm where he sort of essentially executes them or sends them to prison. so, a lot of qanon devotees, including the woman who was shot by police, where convinced that today, excuse me, wednesday would be the storm, and essentially, there would be and essentially, there would be a bloodbath of democrats where

they would all be arrested in this kind of utopian area would ensue for them. so these are people who were really ready to put it all on the line. and even that kind of conspiratorial thinking has infiltrated the rest of the party a betted infiltrated the rest of the party abetted by the president. so even people who wouldn't say, maybe i believe in qanon, they are happy to believe that there will be a big moment where trump's collection is saved and that the election was stolen from them. you study conservative media a lot, but even on fox news, ucb a big focus on anti—fire, and this idea that, actually, the protesters weren't trump supporters at all, they were leftists trying to discredit the president. right. so this isa the president. right. so this is a sort of classic trope we see in the united states on the right, where they clearly hype up right, where they clearly hype up an event, whether it's charlottesville, unite the right, or yesterday's event, and then suddenly when violence occurs, and things go south, they have decided the optics aren't great, they say, well, that's left—wing provocateurs. in this case, we have

congressman and fox news hosts going off the thinnest claim that there was some technology that there was some technology that detected anti—fire there. but the company that has this technology supposedly, even they came out and said this is total nonsense and they demanded it probably. —— antifa. this very flimsy story, through social media on the right wind media from its already spread all over the place, and i fear that already spread all over the place, and ifear that it's convinced many thousands of people that this was somehow an activity of antifa. the president himself has just tweeted out a video from his real donald trump account suggesting he's back on twitter, in which he condemns, parent, the events that on the yesterday he was saying that he loved the protesters, saying they don't represent our country. how key is his social media feed once he's out of office to maintaining this whole belief system and his supporters? i think it's crucial for the president to have some outlet where he can reach his supporters in an unfiltered where, whether

that's twitter or, you know, if he ends up allying himself with one of these cable news channels, if he goes on one of these knock social media networks. you know, ithink that's because he wants to still be able to rile them up. i think there's a good chance he could get kicked off twitter and facebook entirely after he's president, but you know, i mean, really, so much of the gop right now and trump grassroots, all they care about is what he likes. and that changes day—to—day. that's fine with them. they are on his side. he needs to be able to send those messages, and frankly, to steal those headlines from the biden administration so he can be this kind of shadow president in waiting. do you think he's really going to be able to do that when he doesn't have the platform, the podium. that's a great question. a lot of the more outrageous things he did on the things that get headlines, you know, got headlines, you know, got headlines because it was so crazy for a president to be doing it. the people he invited to the white house, the things he would tweet, you know, the threats to go to war with north korea and stuff like that. i

thank you make a good point that potentially, the significance nationally may decline, but i think there's going to be tens of millions of americans who are really die—hard for trump americans who are really die—hard fortrump and americans who are really die—hard for trump and will continue to see him as their figurehead. thank you so much for being with us. thanks for having me. stay with us on bbc news — still to come... as donald trump's presidency comes to a controversial end — we take a look at his legacy — and his impact on america. the japanese people are in mourning, following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. "good grief!" after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some

black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. around the world, people have been paying tribute to the iconic rock star, david bowie, who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. his family announced overnight that he died of cancer at the age of 69. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news, the latest headlines america's president—electjoe biden says wednesday's events in washington are one of the darkest days in us history — and he's blaming donald trump... social media giants twitter and facebook suspend donald trump's accounts — the democrats — want him

thrown out of office. from the very start of his presidency, donald trump promised to make big changes to american politics. our north america correspondent, nick bryant, considers what yesterday's dramatic events could mean for mr trump's legacy — and for the future of american politics. so help me god. congratulations, mr president. from the moment that donald trump took the oath of office, it instantly became clear that he would change the presidency more than the presidency would change him. this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. but millions of voters had sent him to the white house precisely because he was prepared to say the unsayable. they loved his antiestablishment energy. they backed his trashing of behavioural norms. ahead of the election, he strongly signalled that he was even prepared to reject democratic

conventions. he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. well, we are going to have to see what happens, you know that. i have been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. but more than 74 million americans voted for him nonetheless, the second highest figure in us history. he won almost 47% of the national vote. in events like this july fourth celebration at the lincoln memorial, critics of his presidency saw signs of authoritarianism, america first as a military tattoo. and many people globally viewed episodes like his return from hospital after recovering from the coronavirus as comic opera. some lampooned him as an american mussolini. but many of his backers saw something different, an american strongman and a fellow victim of elite sneering. the whole number of electors appointed to vote for president of the united states... on capitol hill last night, some of his loyal allies,

the trump enablers, started tojump ship. i hate it to end this way. oh, my god, i hate it. from my point of view, he's been a consequential president, but today... the first thing you'll see. all i can say is, count me out, enough is enough. but almost half of republican lawmakers voted last night to overturn joe biden‘s victory, even after they witnessed first hand what looked like an insurrection on capitol hill. when he emerged on the political scene four years ago, it was said that the new york tycoon had mounted a hostile takeover of the republican party, but there was always massive buy—in from the rank—and—file conservatives who became his personal base. so even after the american carnage that we witnessed here yesterday, he remains the dominant figure in conservative politics, and could be for years to come. the republicans have always prided themselves on being the party of abraham lincoln, but these past four years, they have become

the party of donald trump. many of his supporters display a near cult—like devotion. so it is premature to see the storming of the capitol as trump and trumpism's final stand. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. let's speak to austin cantrell who is a former assistant press secretary for president trump. thank you so much forjoining us. so, you were there in the trump white house with such high hopes for what could be achieved. what did you make of the storming of the capital? laura, first of all, thank you so much for having me. the day after what was clearly the where national security events failures since 9/11. the storming of the capital is a stain that will stay not only on the american people but on the republican party for the

foreseeable future. i wish i could tell you what the future of the republican party looks like with mr trump. but i will tell you that his future certainly got dimmer yesterday. i have to apologise, while i have been watching your show this evening, i understand he has put out a video. i have not yet seen that, so i would prefer not to comment on it. no, iunderstand. he prefer not to comment on it. no, i understand. he said in the video that the protesters didn't represent our country, he is saying that it was a heinous attack on the us capital. he is outraged by the violence and mayhem. at a customer to the point, when you saw him urge those protesters yesterday to march on the capital, was this a wolf in sheep clothing? was this the president trump that you had worked for? or someone else? absolutely not. anybody who could have seen this coming would've made a lot of money

betting on it. ok, nobody could've possibly seen this coming. i left last summer last election to start my own firm. i never would've imagined that something like this could've happened. i take your word for that the statement he put out does have outcome and that's great to hear. frankie, it's 24 hours late. but that should've happened last evening, and i'm very disappointed that it didn't. you have friends and former colleagues, people currently in the white house. what is the mood amongst those of you who have worked and are still working for the president. i have very many friends still there, in the mood has never been worse. i am you know, i'm texting and calling them co nsta ntly texting and calling them constantly saying how are you doing, checking in, some of them are very afraid of what them are very afraid of what the future has for them and what the future lies for the republican party. i will tell you that this was certainly not the republican party that i've

grown up the republican party that i've grown up with or that i'm sure will continue. austin, i apologise, i've got to stop you there. thank you so much for joining us. so good to have you. you are watching bbc news. hello there. thursday was a really cold day in the midlands where the fog persisted. and it's cold widely at the moment, of course, we're got a widespread frost, and again, for many parts of the country, it could be quite icy out there as well. and in some areas, we are seeing some more sleet and snow falling. so, it's a real mixture, some quite tricky conditions early in the morning, a wintry mixture. we've got most of the patchy fog now across the southeast of england by this stage. but with sleet and snow falling mainly across wales and northern england, there's going to be a covering of snow for many, there could be even more than that over the pennines. a dry but icy start for northern ireland, and indeed for much of scotland, but a covering of snow for northern and eastern areas, the more persistent snow should've moved southwards by this stage, and the wintry showers that we are left with

will soon fade away, so it's going to turn dry and sunny for scotland and indeed for northern ireland. more cloud, though, for england and wales, again, a mixture of rain, sleet and mainly hill snow for northern england and wales. a few wintry showers around elsewhere, and the fog will be lifting through the morning. a cold day wherever you are, temperatures, again, only 1—4 celsius. and as we headed to the weekend, it's going to be really cold start on saturday morning. a widespread quite sharp frost as well, some fog around in the morning across southern england to slowly lift, but otherwise england and wales looks dry and sunny. for scotland and northern ireland, the cloud will tend to increase as the winds pick up, and we see some wetter weather arriving in the northwest of scotland. another cold day, those temperatures in the afternoon, 2—4 degrees for many areas. the wetter weather that's coming into the northwest on that second weather front there, and that will slip its way southwards on saturday night, but weaken. but we are left with more cloud across the northern half of the uk. still some patches of fog in southern england, southern areas, though,

seeing a bright but cold day. more cloud for northern england, northern ireland and scotland in particular, some further damp weather coming back in to western areas of scotland. here, it should be a bit milder. and generally, those temperatures of degree or so higher on sunday. things are going to get milder for many of us as we head into next week, as the winds come in from the atlantic. notice that colder air still across parts of scotland, so there is the threat of some snow here. but generally, next week, looks much milder, but there will be some rain and some stronger winds as well.

this is bbc news.

the headlines. donald trump has released a video on social media. condemning the chaotic scenes that took place at the us congress on wednesday. he said the people who carried out the acts of violence did not represent america. he also conceded that a new administration would now take office. president—electjoe biden has launched a stinging attack on donald trump — blaming him for the insurrection on capitol hill on wednesday. mr biden called it one of the "darkest days "in american history". he said president trump had spent the past four years showing contempt for democracy. donald trump's opponents in the two houses of congress have called for him to be removed from office after the violent invasion of the capitol. democratic senator chuck schumer said mr trump should be removed immediately. if he is not, house speaker nancy pelosi says he could be impeached. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.